The Oscar-winning "Chinatown" director is "an artist and a nice person" who "did something wrong and he paid for it," Allen said Saturday.

Polanski, 76, is now under house arrest in Switzerland, awaiting a decision on whether to be extradited to the U.S. in connection to the drugging and rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1977. He pled guilty to a count of unlawful sexual intercourse but fled the U.S. in 1978 before his sentencing. He claims the judge was going to reneg on a plea deal his lawyers had negotiated.

Allen himself went through scandal in 1992 for an affair with Soon Yi-Previn, the then-22 year-old adopted daughter of his former partner Mia Farrow. He later married Previn in 1997.

Last week, British actress Charlotte Lewisaccused Polanski of sexually abusing her at his Paris home when she was 16. "It is very important the district attorney and the Swiss authorities be armed with this information as they decide his fate," Lewis, now 42, said in coming forward.

Allen, at Cannes to promote his new movie, “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger,” may not have known about Lewis’ claims when reiterating support for Polanski, the AP reported. He signed a petition demanding Polanski’s release after his Switzerland arrest last September.